Have been using a "rubber duck" for decades to talk things through when there is no human available. By talking it out, it uses different neural pathways to help solve problems faster. My first rubber duck was given to me when I joined Nortel Networks. I did not understand why they gave one to me. They said it would help me to think through things faster, I was skeptical until I tried it for the first time months later. My current "rubber duck" is tux penguin that my wife gave me decades ago and it has sat on my home office desk ever since.
I think "through writing" / "write to think/feel" a lot (usually in a mix of 1st/2nd person, 5-6 pages of text per day on avg.). Think: stream-of-consciousness writing, journaling, but also just keeping a screen with disappearing text notes at hand (append-only) where I ramble.
That being said, not many things can compete with talking at your dog for an hour or so.